The day before the Rose Bowl in Pasadena Calif - Part 2

Another area that I was able to observe was where the Cal-Poly University students were making their huge float. This float was totally constructed by the students and as we watched, they were busying themselves with putting the flowers one by one on to the float... The Cal-Poly float was one of very few that was covered in all California grown flowers. No material from other countries was used to decorate it....

This was the area where they kept the flowers before being prepared and used.

Some younger volunteers stripping just the flower petals to be used on the float.

This showed a basic structure and the way the floats were built...

Samples of the natural materials and their variety of colors and textures...

Little closer details of the float and yes they did use the whole potatoes as the cobble stones.

This was a very clever and nice way to ask for donations. You paid $2 and addressed a "To the Rescue" post card. The day of the Parade, the card rode on the Cal Poly University float. After being stamped with "This card rode in the Cal Ploy float January 2, 2012" it was sent back to the addressee. Of course I got mine a few days after the Rose Parade....

In the same area, there were antique cars all decorated with flowers that were going to be used in the Parade. Photographs below are for the Grand Marshall, and for the Tournament of Roses President.

My visit to the float making was a lot more than I had expected. I saw many beautiful floats decorated with breath taking flowers, shopped a little, received University of Oregon colored roses, met many nice people and took vast amount of photographs. Next year? I hope I can make it back and actually see the parade itself...

The Day before the Rose Bowl in Pasadena California - Part 1

It has been a dream of mine to be in Pasadena, California for the Rose Bowl football championship on New Year's day and this year my hubby decided to give me the trip as my Christmas present.  Yes, I know he is a really nice guy. The Rose Bowl is a collegiate football championship game between Pac-12 conference champion- University of Oregon and Big-10 conference champion -University of Wisconsin. There are several events that happens leading up to the football championship. One of those is you can observe the volunteers putting the finishing touches on the parade floats. 

I have always wanted to see the making of the floats, so I drove through the parade route and went out to the Rose Bowl Stadium early in the morning.   Even though they had advertised that the place will not open up to the public until 11am, the parking lot was full, and there were long lines of people waiting to get in.

I went up to the ticketing booth but there were sign that said that they had stopped selling the ticket and people were walking away.  Of course I had to find out why and I was told that because of the beautiful, warm weather that they were already bringing out the floats to the street to finish the last of the decoration. 

Every inch of the floats were covered with beautiful flowers and natural materials. No artificial, man-made materials were used in the Rose Bowl Floats. Even the wheels were covered in pasted seaweeds and the horse of the Ray Rogers float were covered in different shades of seeds.

Walking in the snow with my new snowshoes....

Snow !!! yes it snowed in the Chicago areas yesterday, and today was my first chance to bring out my brand new snowshoes. I have watched 'Youtube' videos on "how to walk" and "how to get up if you fall" so I thought I was pretty ready. I wasn't sure how many layers I needed to wear so I dressed like I was going skiing. (my hubby told me to take my phone,just in case)

With little difficulty putting on the snowshoes (no direction came with my equipments) I was off.

It felt so good to be outdoors right after it had snowed. Everything looked and felt so pristine. Walking in my snowshoes was a lot easier then I first thought, but I kept sinking into the snow a couple of inches and every time I picked up my feet I brought up not only my snowshoes but also snow as well. Even though we had really fluffy snow, it added some weight and my legs started to feel the pain.

Luckily my friend "the fat squirrel" came out looking to see what I was up to, so I took this opportunity to stop for the day and get him some peanuts...

My teacher Natsume Soseki's granddaughter

"Wagahai wa nekodearu" Every Japanese growing up has heard this phrase, which means "I am a cat". It was written by a modern Japanese writer Natsume Soseki. It was one of the first modern literature written from an animal's point of view and this book and phrase

became a huge sensation. After moving to the U.S. I attended the University of Oregon where I met and studied under Mrs. Yoko McClain who turned out to be the granddaughter of Soseki. She was a gentle, small women, with a quick wit and small rimed glasses. She came to America as a Fulbright Scholar when she was young and ended up in Eugene, Oregon where she studied, taught, married and raised her family. Long after I graduated from the U of O we kept in touch and last year when I was in Eugene I went to visit her. We talked about many of my classmates she still kept in touch with and the lectures she had given. But of course she talked mostly about her grandson. I am so glad that I took the time to go see her then. Unfortunately she passed away in November of 2011. Mrs. McClain I will truly miss you....

New Years Day 2012

How did you spend your new year day? For me it started in a fog, literally...after arriving in Los Angeles late, I was looking for my hotel in a thick fog. I knew I was in the right area but just could not see the sign and I kept driving by. I finally had to call the hotel to see what landmarks were near by, but just then the fog parted just enough to see the hotel. When I drove up to the office to check in I heard fire crackers, and fire works going off. Happy New Year to me....

In the morning I woke up to a bright blue sky and could not resist the chance to head to the beach. When I saw the waves crashing and smelling the salty ocean air I knew that I was at the right place. I sat on the sandy beach bathed in a morning sun for what seemed like a long time. What a great way to start the new years....

Random Backyard Find

Few things I found today on my walk around my backyard.

Do you know why Hugh Hefner cancelled his wedding?

One thing for sure, I had nothing to do with it..... no nothing....

I am being sooooo tourist in this picture...

Weeding or Clicking

I have been enjoying gardening this summer. I have put in borders with bricks from our old fire place, transplanted some plants from the back yard to hopefully a better sunnier location, and lots of trimming, and weeding. But today while I was taking a wheel barrel full of weeds to our compost pile, I saw a beautiful butterfly fluttering in our bushes. As soon as I saw it, my photographer side took over. I ran into the house, got my camera, fixed the settings and started shooting away. Just as I thought I had taken enough photographs, another butterfly, this time black and blue showed up, and of course I had to stay and click away. What do you think? If anyone knows the name of these butterflies please let me know....

Very early Sunday morning myself and another budding photographer started our drive to Starved Rock State Park in Utica, Il about 1 1/2 hrs away. But our heads must of been still in a fuzz because we missed the turn off onto I-80. We did eventually make it to the state park, but with the recent rain the Illinois River has flooded the parking lot of the visitor center and the whole area was closed. So our plan to ask which is the best trail to take photographs of wild flowers failed..... Of course we had other plans ... just go on any trail that was open, and this is where we ended up.. St. Louis Canyon ..... Beautiful isn't it?

Got kissed by the fishes

It has been a while since I have last blogged, but I have been very busy with my family life and traveling. One of the place I traveled recently was Cozumel. It is an island off of Cancun Mexico in a Caribbean Sea and it is known for its great scuba dive spots. I do not scuba dive, but was rewarded with many colorful fishes just off the docks and beaches. I wanted to photograph these friendly fishes and I was throwing bread to gather them near me. I thought it would it be great to capture them feeding out of my hand. Great idea, but when the fish started biting my fingers trying to get to the bread, not so good idea. One actually bit down hard enough that I started bleeding in open water. I realized that it could be potentially dangerous as there are sharks that are known to swim in these waters.

The painful bite from a fish came out like it had kissed me, but don't be fooled by it, it really hurt....